The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1887-09-22
Agriculture.


Mr.. Eithv;~- Perhaps the following Ac-
couni Of ny experience with ground bone
will be 81 value TO others. IN the Gnt
place | would ssy ,hs, nearly all expert
menis which are reported are worthless.
20 iai as the common farmer is concerned.
Some one has pet COW which be feeds
With spoon add takes her pulse aud
temperature every day. and then reports
msrselons results. another sows a square
rod OF grain aud tells how much be got TO
the acre. Nov all this is boiled. down
nonsense. Such things have made the
bard beaded farmer suspicious and be
pnts little Trust in any Of these results,
What We want 10 know ~ what caa be
done. or VIA, is done, in a lair. practical
way. Last spring ! took field OF twelve
acres and Sowed on II three tons Of coarse
ground bone mixed with over two tons OF
asbes. Part Of the bone had been mixed
With the vet ashes for several months, On
some OF the bone / used little acid, not
over ten pounds to hundred pounds Of
bone. The whole mass was mixed With
thIee loads OF muck on barn floor and
then scattered on the ground with shovel
from the cart. This insured an even dis
tribuiion, more 20 than II muck had not
been used. 1t is to be kept IN mind that
the field was an exhausted one. 1t would
not produce crop without some fertilizer.
| took this field purposely Often field
is 50 rich that We cannot tell how much
good the fertilizer has done One section
was sowed with ashes alone, one section
had nothing Oh il and the whole was seed.
ed With common oats. With the ashes the
oats did something: without any dressing
the ground did very little. On the rest
had what was called one Of the finest
stands OF grain ever seen 10 this section.
The straw was fully five feet and did not
lodge. / was unfortunate in cutting it
and it was ont 10 several rains and had to
be handled 20 much that ii sheled good
deal. Still 1t tbreshed out six hundred
fifty bushels AS oats are potoriously
short crop ID this region and much OF tie
bsst land his not produced over forty
bushels TO tie acre, il must be conceded |
that the bone was success. / myself put
twenty cartloads OF stable manure on an-
other acre and got less than forty bushels.
As used fine and coarse bone mixed, ! |
feel certain that shall receive benefit for |
at least i've years, and as the field is to be
seeded to grass that is what want. As
to the cost, Professor Cooke says that the
average price Of ground bone per ton 10
the state is S3S, and that it is cheap at
that. But pure ground bone eau be
bought at Wells River for S32 Professor
Cooke says that in estimating values he is
guided by the .faeaesS Of It, Now for Pro
lessor Cooke as practical chemist | have
respect; for Professor Cooke as a practical
farmer have not so much respect. II
depends on VIVA. is wanted OF the booze.
Ii we wish to have it all available the first
year, then doubtless the fuer 1t Is the
better. But certainly the medium bone
will last longer aud be better for seeding
down. In the past year have taken
great pains to investigate this matter, and
| have found that the best aud most sue
cessinl farmers in New York aud Pennsyl-
vania used quite coarse bone and the re-
suits were astonishing. As one of them
said, 81 am sure TO get the benefit in the
end, and 1t was plain from the crop on
his land that he did. From he expert
ment OF tins year am convinced that the
best way TO use bone for general crops is
to mix with wet ashes and let it ferment,
covered with muck. shall not use acid
again unless it is for corn. Perhaps an
other year shall be able to report how
bone acts when used to seed down, as part
Of my land is seeded with bone as a ferti
izer, this year-E. j. RANsLow, Wells
Biver, VI. in "a Jpafchmm.